Openreach FTTH Infrastructure

[rab.s]

Over the last few weeks Openreach have been pulling fibre cables into our area.

We have had the lower end fibre broadband for the last few years where the last 500m is over the copper cables.
Now that the fibre is running past my door, how long is it likely to be before I can order FTTH?

[manracer]

were in a similar position, cables pulled in Feb, told we could order in April, then May, then June.....

Im not too fussed as I get 79mb from FTTC which is fine for multiple 4k streams, xbox, 2 people working from home with teams etc...

Depends on the price I guess as I currently pay £24.99 for BT "up to" 80mb including the dreaded phone line rental....

[mmm-five]

We were told we'd have it in 2016 - still waiting.

[Alucidnation]

Just because they are installing it, doesn't mean it will be available anytime soon.

You'll soon get a st load of marketing through the door when it is though.

[manracer]

Alucidnation said:

Just because they are installing it, doesn't mean it will be available anytime soon.

You'll soon get a st load of marketing through the door when it is though.

we got this in March....

[Ydnaroo]

Where we are contractors were putting in infrastructure during Sept last year and all visible works (CBTs installed on poles) seemed to be completed by the end of that month. FTTP went live on Openreach checker last week in November.

[Freakuk]

Don't hold your breath!

I moved into our house June 2019, little country lane 4 properties the next telegraph pole down the lane had fibre ran to it. However when ordering BB (BT) all they could supply was copper at approx 2-6Mb. Around 4-5 months of arguing with BT and numerous inspections the penny dropped and I now have 300Mb FTTH

[Dave Hedgehog]

Freakuk said:

Don't hold your breath!

I moved into our house June 2019, little country lane 4 properties the next telegraph pole down the lane had fibre ran to it. However when ordering BB (BT) all they could supply was copper at approx 2-6Mb. Around 4-5 months of arguing with BT and numerous inspections the penny dropped and I now have 300Mb FTTH

we arnt even on the list that makes the list that they may one day think about picking a location to add to the list that they are thinking they may possibly install FTTH in the next 5-10 years

Found out Trooli just started offering FTTH and 16 days later on WiFi:

[LooneyTunes]

Freakuk said:

Don't hold your breath!

I moved into our house June 2019, little country lane 4 properties the next telegraph pole down the lane had fibre ran to it. However when ordering BB (BT) all they could supply was copper at approx 2-6Mb. Around 4-5 months of arguing with BT and numerous inspections the penny dropped and I now have 300Mb FTTH

It seems like it can depend about who has commissioned the fibre install.

Previous property a neighbour further down the lane paid to have fttp, we were able to get onto it a few weeks afterward it went live (found,out roughy when this would be by giving tea and biscuits to the openreach team working at the end of the drive) by calling BT and finding someone who could process an upgrade. It didn’t show up on their system as available initially so you need someone willing to look into it a bit. Only slight wrinkle was that they wanted to to send the fibre overhead but that soon got resolved.

Current house we commissioned the fttp install via a different isp. That isp can hook neighbours almost immediately (for several grand) otherwise they’ve been told they need to wait 12 months before bt/or will be able to do it (at virtually no cost).

[mmm-five]

Just heard from a mate near Brum...

He was telling me about his business neighbour (has a similar detached commercial unit next to his, but separated by about 10ft) who has just paid £15k to get OpenReach to lay ducting for his new FTTP installation (required digging up about 25m of driveway used to access 4 units).

My mate asked him why did he pay £15k for all that work when they could have just used the existing ducting my mate paid for (with the help of a internet infrastructure grant) 2 years ago?

I believe my mate's neighbour was not best pleased

[Sheepshanks]

manracer said:

were in a similar position, cables pulled in Feb, told we could order in April, then May, then June.....

Im not too fussed as I get 79mb from FTTC which is fine for multiple 4k streams, xbox, 2 people working from home with teams etc...

Depends on the price I guess as I currently pay £24.99 for BT "up to" 80mb including the dreaded phone line rental....

It was installed in our village during the first lockdown - the guys said they'd been chased out of other villages so there were loads of them here!. Just looked back and I got the first email from Openreach about it on 25th June. Sign up on their website for alerts.

I haven't switched as we have a big refurb planned and I'll be moving my home office where our line currently comes in. Plus, the 80/20 FTTC service we have now works absolutely fine. New neighbours got it (they're the only people in our road who have) and there's a not very attractive grey box plonked on the wall next to their front door (line is overhead).

I think like for like list price is about the same, although we currently get a 20% (I think) discount - don't know if that would continue. BT has a plan to get rid of copper reasonably quickly so they should start getting keen for people to change.

[bimsb6]

Sheepshanks said:

manracer said:

were in a similar position, cables pulled in Feb, told we could order in April, then May, then June.....

Im not too fussed as I get 79mb from FTTC which is fine for multiple 4k streams, xbox, 2 people working from home with teams etc...

Depends on the price I guess as I currently pay £24.99 for BT "up to" 80mb including the dreaded phone line rental....

It was installed in our village during the first lockdown - the guys said they'd been chased out of other villages so there were loads of them here!. Just looked back and I got the first email from Openreach about it on 25th June. Sign up on their website for alerts.

I haven't switched as we have a big refurb planned and I'll be moving my home office where our line currently comes in. Plus, the 80/20 FTTC service we have now works absolutely fine. New neighbours got it (they're the only people in our road who have) and there's a not very attractive grey box plonked on the wall next to their front door (line is overhead).

I think like for like list price is about the same, although we currently get a 20% (I think) discount - don't know if that would continue. BT has a plan to get rid of copper reasonably quickly so they should start getting keen for people to change.

Copper will be here for some time yet , original target was 2025 but that has been extended out considerably !

[quinny100]

rab.s said:

Over the last few weeks Openreach have been pulling fibre cables into our area.

We have had the lower end fibre broadband for the last few years where the last 500m is over the copper cables.
Now that the fibre is running past my door, how long is it likely to be before I can order FTTH?

This is a how long is a piece of string question.

It all depends on what stage of the various programmes of works your property is passed. The FTTP connections from the premises to the aggregation nodes is one scheme of works, then there is often a separate scheme to connect the aggregation nodes back to the exchange*. Sometimes the two schemes run almost concurrently, other times they can be many months apart - sometimes that's the plan, sometime unforeseen problems set things back during the programme.

It makes little sense to have infrastructure in the ground that you're not monetising, but sometimes you'll get unforeseen problems on backbone route - something like a collapsed or blocked duct that you can't easily repair and requires you to dig up a main road. They won't stop the local infrastructure build because of this, but it will delay the go live.

I think their official line is you can usually expect to be able to order a connection within a year of the local infrastructure install.

• Note that the exchange for GEA products (FTTC/FTTP) is often not the same exchange your copper line would go back to - Openreach have about 4000 exchanges but only about 1000 exchanges are used for the GEA network. The aim is to close the other 3000 exchanges at the earliest opportunity and sell them off.